Shell in £4.3bn Enterprise deal

OIL giant Royal Dutch/Shell has launched a friendly takeover bid for Enterprise Oil, in a deal valuing Britain's biggest independent oil explorer at £4.3bn including debt.

Shell is paying 725p in cash for each Enterprise share, a premium of 15% to the share price on Thursday and valuing Enterprise's share capital at around £3.5bn. It will also take on £800m of debt.

The deal would produce annual gains worth $300m (£197m), Shell said. It would boost earnings and cashflow from 2003. Enterprise shareholders will be entitled to receive the final dividend of 5.35p a share declared in Februay, which is to be paid on 31 May.